From: leighchristine@hotmail.com   
      
   TITLE: Impossible Things   
   AUTHOR: Christine Leigh   
   E-MAIL: leighchristine@hotmail.com   
   RATING: PG   
   CATEGORY: V, A   
   SPOILERS: "Requiem"   
      
   SUMMARY: Post-"Within/Without."  Scully brings her   
   mother up to speed on recent events in her life.   
      
   DISCLAIMER: All characters are the products of Chris   
   Carter. They also belong to Ten-Thirteen Productions   
   and the Fox Network. No copyright infringement   
   intended.   
      
      
   Impossible Things   
   By Christine Leigh   
      
   June 2000   
      
   Maggie Scully turned out the lamp beside her bed.   
   The book she was reading was holding her interest   
   only at the so-so level, and she'd decided that she   
   would rather dream herself to sleep.  She had been   
   doing that for about five minutes when the phone   
   rang.  It was a quarter past ten on Saturday night,   
   not a time she usually received calls, and she said a   
   fast prayer before picking up.   
      
   "Hello."   
      
   "Mom, hello."   
      
   "Dana.  Hi.  Is everything all right?"  There was no   
   point in not getting right to the point.  Too many   
   calls over too few years conveying less than   
   desirable news had caused Maggie to become queen of   
   the wary.   
      
   "Mom, I'm sorry if I woke you.  Were you asleep?"   
      
   "No.  I put my book down just a few minutes ago.   
   What's going on sweetheart?"  Dana had left her a   
   message a couple of weeks back, but every time Maggie   
   had tried to return the call there had been no   
   answer.   
      
   "Mom, there are some things I need to tell you.  I   
   don't mean to sound mysterious, and I know this must   
   seem very out-of-the-blue, but are you busy tomorrow   
   afternoon?"   
      
   Maggie's heart rate had increased at least threefold,   
   but she tried to remain sounding calm.   
      
   "No.  Why don't you come over for lunch?  And you   
   know you're always welcome to go with me to church."   
   It had been several weeks since they'd gone together.   
   What, dear God, she thought, could this be about?   
   She could hear her daughter's steady breathing as the   
   offer was being pondered.   
      
   "I think I might like to do that."   
      
   "Good.  Dana, please tell me you're all right."   
      
   "I'm all right, Mom.  I just need to talk to you."   
      
   *Need.*  Maggie could probably count on her fingers   
   the number of times she'd heard this word from Dana   
   beyond the age of fifteen, and now she'd heard it   
   twice in one conversation.   
      
   "Well then, do you want to come here first, and we'll   
   go together in my car?"   
      
   "It might be better if I meet you there."   
      
   "Okay.  I'll wait outside for you on the steps."   
      
   "Thank you, Mom."   
      
   "Love you, sweetheart."   
      
   "I love you too, Mom.  See you tomorrow."   
      
   They hung up.   
      
   Maggie lay in the dark and waited for her heart to   
   stop pounding.  She should probably get up and get a   
   glass of water, but she really didn't feel like   
   moving.  She looked across the room.  It was a   
   gorgeous night and she had a window open, and through   
   it poured a beam of moonlight.  She stared at it and   
   willed her mind to think of anything else.  Tara had   
   called today.  She'd held the receiver for Matthew   
   and let him talk to his grandmother.  Maggie was so   
   proud of how well he was able to communicate for a   
   two-year-and-a half-year-old.  Tara was really   
   missing Bill, Jr.  They didn't speak of it -- there   
   was no need to do so.  Both women knew that it didn't   
   really help the situation any to talk about it.   
   Better to focus on looking forward to his next leave.   
   Always, the next leave -- only now she wasn't   
   thinking about Tara.  Oh, better not to go there,   
   Maggie thought, but she couldn't help herself once   
   she'd started, and her heart slowed some as she   
   allowed her mind to wander back.  Back through years   
   of many conversations with young children and lonely   
   nights.  Then she remembered another night.  One that   
   had been made for love, and that while already   
   special, in the end turned out to be even more so.   
      
   Like tonight, it had been June.  She and Bill had   
   finally stolen some time alone together and had gone   
   swimming in the ocean on that moonlit night.  He'd   
   been back three days, but they'd had no time to   
   themselves until finally, the only sitter Maggie   
   trusted had become available on Saturday night.  So,   
   Bill, Jr. and Melissa were safe in bed back at the   
   house while their parents swam and then sat on the   
   beach eating a picnic dinner and enjoying good wine,   
   and necking like a couple of teenagers.  It was a   
   favorite spot of theirs and they had it to themselves   
   that night.  Bill would have taken things further,   
   but Maggie had said that perhaps they'd better leave   
   those scenes to the movies.  She remembered how   
   wonderful it felt, though, to have her man back in   
   her arms, and the feel of the saltwater foaming all   
   around them.  When they returned home, Bill quickly   
   paid the sitter.  Cathy lived very near by, something   
   Maggie had always taken for granted, but for which   
   she was now quite grateful.  Bill walked her home and   
   was back in a matter of minutes.  They conceived   
   their third child that night.   
      
   Please, God, Maggie prayed, as she finally started to   
   drift to sleep.  Please let her be all right.   
      
   *****   
      
   Sunday Morning   
   10:30 a.m.   
      
   They met just in time to go inside the church before   
   Mass started, so did not talk.  Maggie was able to   
   steal glances during the service, though, and could   
   see that Dana was quite pale.  She also noticed that   
   Dana knelt with her head bowed in prayer for the   
   duration following Communion, not sitting down until   
   Father had.  After Mass ended, and as they were   
   standing to exit the pew, Maggie wondered about Fox.   
   It now occurred to her that she hadn't thought to ask   
   Dana about him last night.  She knew he'd had a tough   
   time after his mother's death, but the few occasions   
   since then that she'd spoken to him on the phone when   
   he'd answered at the office, he'd been as he always   
   was, very kind and polite.  Surely, though,  if Fox   
   were ill or had been injured, Dana would have told   
   her.  Too, if that were so, Dana would be with him,   
   so it couldn't be.  No, it must be something else.   
      
   "Dana, I'd like to light a candle."   
      
   Scully nodded in assent and the two of them headed to   
   the alcove off one of the side aisles where a statue   
   of St. Jude was located.  Maggie started to reach   
   inside her purse, but her daughter beat her to it and   
   put a donation  into the candle box.  Scully could   
   see the question in her mother's eyes, but suddenly   
   lighting a candle seemed a comforting thing to do.   
   The familiar was becoming necessary in ways other   
   than the one which she no longer could touch   
   tangibly.  She placed a hand on her mother's arm and   
   for a moment they just looked at each other, their   
   hearts so full that neither wanted to speak.  Each   
   took a match.  Maggie lighted one candle and Scully   
   two.   
      
   *Whom are you lighting these for Dana?  Please, God,   
   don't let it be the cancer.*   
      
   Then they knelt and prayed -- for their loves and for   
   their lives, for a recognizable world.  For   
   impossible things.   
      
   Outside they parted and went to their individual   
   cars.  Maggie sensed that even had Dana been with her   
   on the drive home that it would have been a quiet   
   ride.   
      
   *****   
      
   "Do you want coffee or tea?"   
      
   "Actually, orange juice sounds good.  Mom, you don't   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)